I Will Go, I Will Go
by KeybladeMosstar
Summary: Roxas can only wonder why his dad must leave for long periods of time with Uncle Riku to fight off evil. Why couldn't that "King Mickey" just leave his dad alone for just a few years? It must be the fate of Keyblade Wielders: never to rest, never to raise a family, never to play blitzball with their children. One-shot. SoKai and Rion mentioned. Roxas' P.O.V.


**Hi guys... *hides behind a wall***

**On the bright side, think of this as an apology and a message that I will work on becoming more active on FanFiction once more! Misfits should be up and running with another chapter soon, I swear!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, nor the Scottish song "I Will Go" for which this story is named. (If you want to check out the song, search the version done by Scythian. :D)**

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It was a beautiful day on Destiny Islands. The cerulean sky was clear, completely devoid of any clouds. The sun was casting its usual harsh rays, but they were offset by the light breeze rustling the paopu trees. It was perfect weather for playing a few rounds of blitzball – if I had felt like it. At the moment, however, I really didn't feel up to going outside and jumping into a giant bowl of water; I felt like sitting on the couch and watching episodes of The Organization that I had missed this past week.

Unfortunately, my dad was persistent on getting my out of the living room and into the blitzball court.

"C'mon, Roxas!" he urged me, tossing a blitzball up and down in one hand. "You can't just sit around and watch TV all day; it's beautiful outside."

I grumbled and shifted to a more comfortable position. "It's always beautiful outside – it's a freaking tropical island!" I pointed out.

My dad was about to respond when my little sister bounced into the room, her white sundress flouncing about her. "Did I hear you say blitzball?" she asked curiously, her big blue eyes gleaming with excitement.

I sighed heavily. She always wanted to go out and play blitzball, but she always freaked out once she jumped into the arena. I guess that was to be expected of a seven-year-old. Still, it was still extremely annoying to me.

"Naminé, you aren't even going to play the sport," I said crossly.

"I will too!" she retorted, stomping her foot. Then, turning to our dad, she flashed her puppy-dog face and said, "Pleeeaaasee?"

Dad chuckled and ran a hand through his wild brown hair. "Why not? It looks like you two need some sibling bonding time."

_Sibling bonding time_? What in Kingdom Hearts did Dad think he was doing? "Seriously?" I exclaimed. "No, I'm not doing something that ridiculous; I'm twelve, not a toddler."

_Knock. Knock. Knock._ A sudden series of knocks echoed from our front door. Dad walked over and opened it to find none other than Uncle Riku standing in the doorway.

"Hey, Riku!" Dad said happily, gesturing for the muscular silveret to come in. "Come in!"

Uncle Riku had to duck to enter our small island hut, but he didn't seem to mind; he must be used to it now since he visits so frequently, I realized. Still, it must be hard for someone so tall to stoop in nearly every island building in town. Heck, he was almost a head taller than my dad, and that was saying something.

"'Sup, Sora?" he replied casually before waving at Naminé and I. "Hey, kiddos. How've you been?"

Naminé, being the annoying little sister she was, broke into a long-winded speech on how she wanted to play blitzball and how she was definitely going to play and win. "Roxas said that I couldn't though," she added wistfully.

Excuse me, but did I say anything of the sort?

"I did not!" I protested, standing up from my spot on the small sofa. "I just said that you probably would freak out again as soon as we arrived."

"Nu-uh!"

"Yuh-huh!"

"Nu-uh!"

"Yu – "

"Aaaaaand that's enough of that," Dad cut in. He walked over to separate the two of us before turning back to Riku with a sheepish grin. "Sorry about that! I didn't know that I was still raising two toddlers."

In response, Uncle Riku gave a nonchalant shrug. "Eh, it's fine. I kind of expect it, since you're their dad and all."

There was a moment of silence before Dad let out an indignant "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

I couldn't help but chuckle. My dad was always the thick one, after all.

Uncle Riku smirked at Dad's reaction, but it vanished as soon as he started speaking again. "Hey, Sora? Can I speak to you in private?" he asked.

Dad frowned, but shrugged and nodded. "Sure, let's go into the kitchen. Kids, why don't you go get any blitzball gear you have; I'll be there in a minute!"

Together they walked out of the family room and into the kitchen behind us, closing the thin bamboo door that separated the rooms.

Naminé and I shared a glance, instantly forgetting our squabble from earlier. "We aren't gonna get our blitzball stuff, right?" she said with a mischievous smile. I nodded, mirroring her expression before dropping into a crouch.

"We're gonna eavesdrop," I said in a hushed voice, "but we have to be verrry quiet."

She ruffled my blond spikes in a slightly condescending manner. "Don't worry Roxy, I'm an expert at this!" she whispered happily.

As she tiptoed to the kitchen door, I wondered if she had been talking about being quiet or eavesdropping.

Brushing my suspicions aside, I remembered the task at hand and slowly made my way to the door. Together, we pressed our ears to the door to catch snippets of what Uncle Riku and Dad were conversing so privately about.

"…Why would he ask such a thing now?" my dad demanded, sounding rather angry. I frowned. Dad never got mad; what could be going on that would cause him to change that?

"I understand, and I'm just as irritated as you are. I told you Xion was expecting, didn't I?"

There was a pause in the conversation before Dad sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, I should've realized that this is bad for you, too," he said in a resigned tone. "Still, what am I going to tell Kairi and the kids?"

"Exactly what the King told us," Uncle Riku replied grimly.

I was completely enraptured in their conversation, biting my nails nervously as I heard the anger and tension in both Dad's and Uncle Riku's voices. What on earth could make Dad so upset? He was always the laid-back one, even when I accidentally drove his car into a streetlamp.

What? I just wanted to see if I could reach the pedals. I actually could if I stretched far enough, but I couldn't see over the dashboard that way.

Now I was getting distracted from the task at hand. Pushing my thoughts and memories aside, I crawled closer to the bamboo door in order to figure out what they were talking about.

As Naminé and I continued to listen to their conversation, the front door swung open. In the doorway stood our mom, wearing her floral work apron and slacks. Her pretty auburn hair was tied in a low ponytail, and the loose strands that typically framed her face were held back by a yellow handkerchief. Despite the dirt stains on her face and knees, she appeared as radiant and happy as ever.

Her smile, however, faded as she saw us pressed to the kitchen door. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly. Removing her gardening gloves, she asked us, "What are you children doing by the door? You wouldn't be eavesdropping on your father, would you?"

Before Naminé and I could respond, the kitchen door was pulled open by Uncle Riku. We tumbled to the floor, shocking both him and our dad. Mother frowned and opened her mouth to reprimand us, but we beat her to the punch and began rapidly asking Dad questions.

"What's going on?" Naminé questioned him, a curious gaze entering her big round eyes once more.

"Who's King Mickey?" I added.

"What do you need to tell Mommy and us?"

"What's the bad news?"

By this time, Mom's face had shifted from a soft frown to a look of shock. "Sora, you aren't…are you?" she asked him worriedly, her voice shaking slightly. In response, Uncle Riku grimly pulled out a glass bottle with a letter in it, sealed with a shiny, three-circled sticker.

For some reason, that bottle seemed vaguely familiar. I scratched my head, trying to remember where I could have ever seen something so strange before.

Then, it hit me.

_Daddy and I were playing on the play island. He was the bad guy and I was the hero. I was laughing as I whacked him with my wooden sword, __an__ action that brought him to his knees. He fell into the sand face-first, causing the silly "dying" noises he was making to grow muffled._

_Suddenly, his phone went off. Daddy got out of the sand and spit some sand out. He told me that it was Mommy, and that she wanted us to go buy diapers for my baby sister. I didn't want to; I wanted to continue playing with Daddy. I refused to move from my spot in the sand. Daddy sighed and pretended to walk off. I immediately followed, not wanting to be left behind. He gave me one of his huge silly grins and scooped me up onto his shoulders. He was about to start running when suddenly he stopped in his tracks. I asked why he stopped walking, but he didn't answer. Instead, he walked to the water and scooped up a bottle._

_Inside the bottle was a little note, which Daddy took out and read. I tried to read it too, but I wasn't very good at reading yet. I settled for asking him what the letter said, but he didn't say anything; he just put me in the boat and rowed home._

_When we got home, he __spoke__ really quietly to Mommy while she fed baby Naminé a bottle. Mommy was crying, so I asked her why. She said Daddy had to go away for a while with Uncle Riku. I asked her why again. Daddy answered for her, saying that he had to go defeat some bad guys._

_Uncle Riku showed up at the door, not looking happy at all. Daddy gave us all hugs and kisses, looking even sadder than Uncle Riku. Then, they left._

Dad didn't come home until Naminé was in preschool. He was gone for almost four years.

"You're leaving again?" I asked incredulously. He couldn't be leaving again, not now!

Dad nodded sadly. "Uncle Riku and I have to leave again to fight off the bad guys, but we'll be back soon!" He tried to sound enthusiastic, but his voice cracked on the last word.

"But you can't just leave again!" Mom protested, recovering from her shock. "You have a family now; you're supposed to be with your kids! King Mickey can't just keep calling you whenever the worlds are in trouble – he has his own Keyblade, for Kingdom Heart's sake!"

"Believe me Kairi, I tried explaining that to him," Uncle Riku said gloomily. "The result wasn't too good for the world he was trying to send us to."

Mom opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She hugged Dad tightly, who gave her a big hug in return.

The truth was just beginning to hit me. He had to leave again, putting his life in danger for an undetermined amount of time. I felt slightly sick.

"You…you're coming back soon, right?" I asked him, almost pleadingly.

Dad and Uncle Riku exchanged a look. "We'll come back as soon as we can. I promise!" Dad finally said, wearing a look of determination. "Besides, I'll still be with you even if I'm away."

I glanced at Mom, expecting to see her as sad as the first time I remember dad leaving. Surprisingly, she wasn't crying at all. Instead, she seemed to have regained her composure from the initial shock. Now, she held a look in her eyes that gave her an aura of strength and determination. In that moment I admired her for refusing to display her sorrow in this situation; after all, she had to be strong for Naminé and I now. I felt my own tears try to surface, but I tried to force them away. I had to be strong too, like her.

Naminé piped up for the first time in a while. Tilting her head, she asked Dad, "How can you be with us if you're away?"

Dad knelt on the ground until he was at her level. Then he poked her chest, right where her heart was. "I'll always be right here, whenever you need me," he told her. This time, he managed to give her a genuine smile.

I was really going to miss that about him.

"What do you mean by that?" I demanded. My question came out more harshly than I intended, but it was all I could do to cover the shaking in my voice. I was twelve now, I couldn't break down!

Dad rose from his spot on the ground and ruffled my blond spikes. "You'll figure it out soon," he told me. "I have faith in you!"

Uncle Riku's watch started beeping loudly. He pressed a button on the side before uttering two ominous words: "It's time."

Dad's smile faded. He gave Naminé and I big bear hugs before kissing Mom on the lips. "We'll be back before you know it!" he told us, although his enthusiasm came out forced.

Mom gave him a faint smile in return. "I know you guys will," she told them softly. She ruffled Dad's crazy brunet locks, and then wrapped her arms around Riku.

"I'll take care of Xion," she promised him, "but you'd better be back in time to help her take care of her baby."

The corners of Uncle Riku's mouth turned up slightly at Kairi's comment. "Thank you; I'll do everything in my power to be there for Xion and Hope, once he arrives," he told her earnestly.

And then they were gone, just like that. We couldn't even watch them board the infamous Gummi Ship.

It appeared that Naminé had just come to terms with the situation, for she suddenly let out a tiny sob. A couple tears leaked out of my own eyes at the sight of my little sister's breakdown. Mom turned around and hugged Naminé and I, providing us with some comfort. She said that we should go and bring some food to Aunt Xion's house, for she would need a lot more company now. I nodded mutely, and so she told me to sit on the couch with my sister and read a book to her while she prepared something in the kitchen. I silently took her hand and sat on the sofa, tossing a small white pillow aside to make more room for the two of us. The pillow hit a blitzball in the middle of the floor, causing it to roll away.

As I watched that ball roll across the wooden floor, a pang of guilt hit me as a cruel realization dawned on me:

I wouldn't play blitzball with my dad for a long, long time.


End file.
